Life

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Early
Years

Casimir, the sixth but fourth surviving son of the Ducal couple,
was born in 1138, shortly before his father's death, but also is
possible that he born shortly after, and in consequence, was posthumous.
Maybe this was the reason that in the Bolesław III's
Testament, he was omitted and left without any land.

During his first years, Casimir and his sister Agnes (born in
1137) lived with their mother Salome in her widow land, Łęczyca. There, the
young prince remained far away from the struggles of his older
brothers Bolesław IV the Curly and Mieszko III
the Old with their older half-brother Władysław II, who tried to
reunite all Poland under his rule.

Salome of Berg died in 1144. Casimir and Agnes were cared by his
older brother Bolesław IV and, although under his tutelage he could
feel safe, he had any guarantee to receive part of the paternal
inheritance in the future. When in 1154 he reached the proper age
(according to the standards of that time), to take control over the
lands of the family, he remained with nothing. Even worse, three
years later (1157) his fate was decided in the successfully
campaign of the Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa. As a part of the treaty between Bolesław and
Barbarossa, Casimir was sent to Germany as a hostage in order to secure the
loyalty of his brother to the Emperor.

It's unknown the fate of Casimir in the Imperial court. He
returned to Poland certainly before 21 May 1161, because that day
he appears in a document with two of his brothers, Bolesław IV and
Henry of Sandomierz. The former opposition of his brothers caused
that Casimir remained without lands.

Duke of
Wiślica

The situation changed in 1166, when his brother Henry was killed
in battle during the crusade against the Prussians; without issue, in his will he
named Casimir the only heir of Sandomierz. However, Bolesław IV
decided to divided the Duchy in three parts: the largest (who
included the capital, Sandomierz) to him; the second (whithout any
name) to Mieszko III and the third part, the district of Wiślica, was given to
Casimir.

Angry and disappointed with the decision of the High Duke,
Casimir rebelled against him, with the support of by his brother
Mieszko III the Old, the magnate Jaksa of Miechów and Sviatoslav,
son of Piotr Włostowic, as well as Jan I,
Archbishop of Gniezno and
Gedko, Bishop of Kraków;
also, almost all Lesser Poland was on his side. The quick
actions of the High Duke finally stopped the rebellion. At the end,
Casimir retain only Wiślica.

In 1172, Mieszko III rebelled against the High Duke, and tried
to persuaded his younger brother to join him. For unknown reasons,
Casimir refused to participate.

Bolesław IV died in 1173 and was succeeded by Mieszko III as
High Duke. He decided to give the rest of Sandomierz to Casimir,
then his only surviving brother, who finally could take the Ducal
title after the illegal usurpation of the late High Duke.

Revolt
against the rule of High Duke Mieszko III

The strong and dictatorial rule of the new High Duke caused a
deep disaffection among the nobility. This time the new revolt
prepared in 1177 had a real chance of victory. The rebellion, apart
of the Lesser Poland nobility, count with the support of Gedko,
Bishop of Krakow, Mieszko's eldest son Odon, Bolesław I the Tall and Casimir.
The reasons about his inclusion in the revolt, after being
reconciled with Mieszko, are unknown.

The battle for the supreme power had a quite strange course:
Mieszko, completely surprised by the rebels in Greater Poland,
withdrew to Poznan, where he stay for almost two years
going heavy fighting with his son Odon. Finally, he was defeated
and was forced to escape. Bolesław the Tall failed in conquest
Krakow and with this the Seniorate, because he was busy fighting
against his brother Mieszko I Tanglefoot and his own
son Jarosław; soon defeated, he
asked Casimir for help. After a successfully action in Silesia, he
marched to Kraków, who
was quickly conquest. Casimir, now Duke of Kraków, decided to
conclude a treaty under which the Bolesław the Tall obtain the full
authority over the Lower Silesia, in return for what Casimir
granted to the then deposed Mieszko Tanglefoot the Lesser Poland
districts of Bytom and Oświęcim, who
formerly were a gift for Casimir's godson and namesake: Casimir,
the only son of Mieszko Tanglefoot.

Casimir II, High Duke of
Poland

The rebellion against Mieszko III in 1177 ended in a full
success to Casimir, which not only conquest Kraków (including the
districts of Sieradz and Łęczyca)-and with
this the title of High Duke-, but also managed to extend his
sovereignty over Silesia
(then divided between four princes: Bolesław the Tall, Mieszko I
Tanglefoot, Konrad Spindleshanks and Jarosław
of Opole), Greater
Poland (ruled by Odon), Masovia and Kuyavia (ruled by Leszek the White,
then a minor and under the tutelage of his mother and the voivode
Żyrona, one of his followers) and Gdańsk Pomerania
(ruled by the Duke Sambor I as a
vassal).

However, Mieszko III worked intensively for their return,
firstly in Bohemia, then in
Germany and Pomerania. To achieve his
ambitious of made hereditary the throne of Kraków (and with this
the Seniorate) on his descendants, Casimir called an assembly of
nobles at Łęczyca
in 1180. He granted privileges to the nobles and the Church,
lifting a tax on the profits of the clergy and relinquishing his
rights over the lands of deceased bishops. By these acts, he won
acceptance of the principle of hereditary succession to Kraków,
though it would take more than a century to restore the Polish
Kingship.

In less than a year after the assembly of Łęczyca (first half of
1181), Mieszko III, with the assistance of Mestwin I of Pomerania
conquest the Eastern greater Poland (including Gniezno and Kalisz) and managed to persuade his son Odon to
submit (according to some historians, was there when Odon received
from his father Poznań as
a Duchy, on the borders of the Obra River). At the same
time, Leszek of Masovia decided to escape from the influence of
Casimir and named Mieszko the Younger (Mieszko III's
son), as a governor of Masovia and Kuyavia, and with this, a tacit
promise of succession over that lands.

Foreign Politics. Relations with Kiev and the Succession of
Halych

For unknown reasons, Casimir didn't react to these events and
decided only secure his authority over Lesser Poland. A diplomatic meeting
occurred only in 1184 at the court of the Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa where Casimir (wanting to neutralize the actions of
Mieszko III and retain the power over the country), paid homage to
Barbarossa and give to him a high tribute.

The most important issue during the reign of Casimir, in
addition to his relations with his brother Mieszko III, was the
issue of the politics towards Russian principalities. The first
task before which he became in High Duke was his attempts to create
diplomatic bonds with the Kievan Russians. The Grand Princes of
Kiev were strongly associated with the previous High Dukes through
marriages with Kievan princesses (Bolesław IV with Princess
Wierzchosławą and Mieszko III with Princess Evdokia). For this
purpose, in November 1178 Casimir arranged the marriage of his
daughter Maria with Prince Vsevolod IV of Kiev[1].

His first major intervention in the affairs of the Russian
princes occurred in 1180, when the beginning of the dispute between
Prince Vasilko, Prince of Shumsk and Dorohychyn (also
son-in-law of Bolesław IV) and Leszek of Masovia for the region of
Wlodzimierz (Duchy of Minsk), as support of the former. The war ended
with the success of Casimir, who conquest Wlodimierz and Brest, while
Wasylko remained in Drohiczyn.

The war has not definitively settled about the matter of the
property of Brest, which was granted as a vassal state to Prince
Sviatoslav, Vasilko's cousin and also Casimir's nephew (son of his
sister Agnes). In 1182 was a new revolt against Svyatoslav's rule.
Thanks to Casimir's intervention, Sviatoslav was restored in the
throne. Nevertless, shortly after Casimir saw that the situation
was unstable and finally decided to give the power to Sviatoslav's
brother, Roman.

In 1187 Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl of Halych died, and began a long
struggle for his succession. Initially, the authority over the
principality was taken by his younger son, Oleg, but soon he was
murdered by the boyards and Halych was taken by the eldest
son of Yaroslav, Vladimirko. Vladimirko's reign was also far from
stability, a situation used by Prince Roman of Brest, who, with the
help of his uncle Casimir, deposed him and take full control over
Halych. The deposed Vladimirko escape to Hungary under the protection of King Béla
III (his relative; Vladimirko's paternal grandmother was an
Hungarian princess), who decided to send his army to Halych. After
his defeat, Roman escape to Kraków and Vladimirko, as act of
revenge, invaded the Lesser Poland. However, soon Béla III decided
to join Halych to Hungary, and deposed Vladimirko, who was placed
as Prince of Halych by the King's second son, Andrew.

The war continue until two years later, when Casimir, after
follow the instructions of Emperor Frederick, who decided to help
Vladimirko after he declared himself his subject, restored his
authority over Halych.

Internal Politics. Brief Restoration of Mieszko III and the
Succession over Masovia and Kuyavia

In 1186 Leszek, Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia died. Before his death
the sickly Duke decided to give all his lands to Casimir.
Previously, Leszek had promise the inheritance to his older uncle
Mieszko III, but his dictatorial proceedings had changed his mind
and decided in Casimir's favor. Shortly after Leszek's death,
Mieszko occupied Kuyavia, and Casimir only could take possession
over Masovia. However, thanks to Masovian inheritance, Casimir
became in the most powerful ruler of Poland.

The involvement of Casimir in the Russian affairs was used in
1191 by Mieszko III, who could take control over Wawel and with this, the title of High Duke and
the control over the Seniorate. Immediately, he declared Kraków an
hereditary fief to his descendants, leaving his son Mieszko the
Younger as a governor. The conflict was finally ended
peacefully, as Casimir - after his return from Russia - regained
the capital without fight, after Mieszko escape at the side of his
father.

He planned to found a University in Kraków, he had already
started to build the building, but his sudden death balked Casimir
II's plans. The university was later established by Casimir
III.

The last goal of Casimir's reign was at the beginning of 1194,
when he organized an expedition against the Yotvingians. The expedition ended with a
full success, and Casimir had a triumphant return to Kraków. After
a banquet made to celebrate his return, Casimir died unexpectedly,
on 5 May 1194. Some historians believed that he was poisoned.

^RUSSIA, Rurik. The
Ipatiewskaia Chronicle records that Prince Mstislav was
the first cousin of Leszek the White, son of Helena. In
consequence, and after a genealogical reconstruction, the wife of
Casimir maybe was Yelena Rostislavna of Kiev. But, according to
Europäische Stammtafeln, Helena of Znojmo was the only
wife of Casimir the Just.